BUT WHATEVER WAS TO MY PROFIT I NOW CONSIDER LOSS FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST. WHAT IS MORE, I CONSIDER EVERYTHING A LOSS COMPARED TO THE SURPASSING GREATNESS OF KNOWING CHRIST JESUS MY LORD, FOR WHOSE SAKE I HAVE LOST ALL THINGS. I CONSIDER THEM RUBBISH THAT I MIGHT GAIN CHRIST AND BE FOUND IN HIM, NOT HAVING A RIGHTEOUSNESS OF MY OWN THAT COMES FROM THE LAW, BUT THAT WHICH IS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST - THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT COMES FROM GOD AND IS BY FAITH. I WANT TO KNOW CHRIST AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF SHARING IN HIS SUFFERINGS, BECOMING LIKE HIM IN HIS DEATH, AND SO, SOMEHOW TO ATTAIN TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
NOT THAT I HAVE ALREAD OBTAINED ALL THIS, OR HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE PERFECT, BUT I PRESS ON TO TAKE HOLD OF THAT FOR WHICH CHRIST JESUS HAS TAKEN HOLD OF ME. BROTHERS, I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO HAVE TAKEN HOLD OF IT. BUT ONE THING I DO: FORGETTING WHAT IS BEHIND AND STRAINING TOWARD WHAT IS AHEAD, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN THE PRIZE FOR WHICH GOD HAS CALLED ME HEAVENWARD IN CHRIST JESUS.
press on! keep your eyes on that goal...
11 April 2007
spiritual vision
"the christian life isn't hard. it isn't even difficult...it's impossible!"
louie giglio
it makes sense that following after Jesus is the most difficult thing to do in this fallen world, especially with this fleshly nature weighing me down. it is so hard to have faith - not only faith that God is real, but a deeper faith as well. it is hard to trust in the promises of God, which are unseen and eternal, in a tangible and tempting world. it is impossible to constantly have our vision set on heaven, just as it says in 2 corinthians 4:16-18.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are acheiving for us an eternal glory tha far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is sen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
if we could really put into practice this verse, i believe our lives would be changed drastically. the problem is, we can't. we simply cannot set our sights on Christ alone and never be distracted from that goal. many followers of Christ have experienced this narrowly focused vision for a time. whether it be a church camp, your salvation experience, a mission trip, or just an amazing week of life, these times, i think, are the most fulfilling times in life. we have one purpose, with one care and only one desire - Jesus Christ.
unfortunately, things tend to pull our eyes away from only Him. we get distracted in some way or another. it could be directly. for example, we are tempted and eventually fall. our eyes are pulled away from him, and we begin to seek after other things, forgetting about what God has done for us. this happened over and over again in the old testament. one of the greatest examples of this, throughout the entire history of israel is the parting of the red sea. this event is a huge part of the psalms, mentioned over and over again as one of the greatest works of God's salvation of the israelites from the egyptians. recall with me - the israelites flee from the egyptians, cross the parted red sea (this is a huge group of people to move, around a million), and the pursuing egyptians die as God un-parts the red sea on top of them. in exodus 15, the israelites are singing praise to God, dancing with crazy excitement. then, THREE DAYS LATER, the israelites have forgotten what God just did. they're complaining. why does this happen to us so very much? we see God's glory, and yet we turn away from him so quickly.
or, the shifting of our vision could be slightly less direct, but in some ways much more deadly. the greatest example of this that i have observed is busyness. God reveals himself to us in a powerful way, and our life is changed. then, we get busy. our eyes begin to look at other things as well as God. we still want to seek him, but we also have other things that we need to get done, or that we want to do as well. this is very dangerous, because often times we will have just enough of God to feel like he's still there, but we'll be so stagnant in our journey with him. we aren't really seeking him; he's just there, and it gives us a good feeling inside.
our tendency as human beings is to eventually fall into one of these patterns of life - whether it be moderate or extreme, for a long or short period of time. we fall. that's what it is impossible to live this life. it is so hard to follow him! i find myself constantly falling into one of these categories, or into something other than these that i just don't understand whatsoever. sometimes i don't desire God, and i don't know why except for a lack of faith.
something i have been saying lately to God is, "it's so hard, God. i want to, but i can't seem to desire you like you deserve, or to live how you want." tonight during worship at riot, i was realizing all of the things that i need to work on in my relationship with God. it was quite overwhelming! first of all, i need to think about him more, because if i really did love him then he'd be on my mind all the time. i need to spend more time with him, and really put a lot more effort into that time. i wanted to read through a few more books and just be consumed by the word of God. i need to be telling more people about Jesus, sometimes more directly. i need to be praying more for my school and for first priority and for my friends and for addie and for my church, etc. i need to pour into the lives of other people around me, helping them to know God better. ah, so OVERWHELMING! i can't possibly do all this stuff on my own. and, honestly, i don't know how i can do it all, period.
yet, there is hope, and oh, how much hope there is. haha, i'm smiling now. that means i'm happy when i write this. in contrast to the fact that this christian life ridiculously impossible, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME. really. that is the burden that Christ is talking about in matthew 11 when he says "come to me..." it is the burden of self. and, oh, how ironic in the world's eyes is it that in losing ourself to God and becoming a slave of righteousness, we are completely satisfied and sustained. we find true life, life as God inteneded, when we lose our life for God's sake. in my last blog, i talked about 2 peter 1:3, specifically about how God has given us everything we need for life. tonight, i'm talking about how God has provided everything we need for godliness in HIM.
its all about him. everything upon this earth points to him. nature does. our relationships do. the deepest parts of our hearts do. friends do. circumstances do. and, if we fix our eyes upon him, i strongly believe that everything will somehow fall into place. if he is the only thing that is in our vision, then good things are inevitably ahead. the problem is, it is with faith, which we lack so greatly, that we are able to "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen." so, we pray for more faith. and God ever-so faithfully grants this request to us. all we have to do is to continue to call to him as we go through life. there's ups and downs. we fall too often, but God's right there to lift us back up if we ask for him to.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jsus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
hebrews 12:2
it is him who we must fix our eyes upon, because he is the one who brings our faith to perfection. and, as we look at him, the things of this earth slowly grow "strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
louie giglio
it makes sense that following after Jesus is the most difficult thing to do in this fallen world, especially with this fleshly nature weighing me down. it is so hard to have faith - not only faith that God is real, but a deeper faith as well. it is hard to trust in the promises of God, which are unseen and eternal, in a tangible and tempting world. it is impossible to constantly have our vision set on heaven, just as it says in 2 corinthians 4:16-18.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are acheiving for us an eternal glory tha far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is sen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
if we could really put into practice this verse, i believe our lives would be changed drastically. the problem is, we can't. we simply cannot set our sights on Christ alone and never be distracted from that goal. many followers of Christ have experienced this narrowly focused vision for a time. whether it be a church camp, your salvation experience, a mission trip, or just an amazing week of life, these times, i think, are the most fulfilling times in life. we have one purpose, with one care and only one desire - Jesus Christ.
unfortunately, things tend to pull our eyes away from only Him. we get distracted in some way or another. it could be directly. for example, we are tempted and eventually fall. our eyes are pulled away from him, and we begin to seek after other things, forgetting about what God has done for us. this happened over and over again in the old testament. one of the greatest examples of this, throughout the entire history of israel is the parting of the red sea. this event is a huge part of the psalms, mentioned over and over again as one of the greatest works of God's salvation of the israelites from the egyptians. recall with me - the israelites flee from the egyptians, cross the parted red sea (this is a huge group of people to move, around a million), and the pursuing egyptians die as God un-parts the red sea on top of them. in exodus 15, the israelites are singing praise to God, dancing with crazy excitement. then, THREE DAYS LATER, the israelites have forgotten what God just did. they're complaining. why does this happen to us so very much? we see God's glory, and yet we turn away from him so quickly.
or, the shifting of our vision could be slightly less direct, but in some ways much more deadly. the greatest example of this that i have observed is busyness. God reveals himself to us in a powerful way, and our life is changed. then, we get busy. our eyes begin to look at other things as well as God. we still want to seek him, but we also have other things that we need to get done, or that we want to do as well. this is very dangerous, because often times we will have just enough of God to feel like he's still there, but we'll be so stagnant in our journey with him. we aren't really seeking him; he's just there, and it gives us a good feeling inside.
our tendency as human beings is to eventually fall into one of these patterns of life - whether it be moderate or extreme, for a long or short period of time. we fall. that's what it is impossible to live this life. it is so hard to follow him! i find myself constantly falling into one of these categories, or into something other than these that i just don't understand whatsoever. sometimes i don't desire God, and i don't know why except for a lack of faith.
something i have been saying lately to God is, "it's so hard, God. i want to, but i can't seem to desire you like you deserve, or to live how you want." tonight during worship at riot, i was realizing all of the things that i need to work on in my relationship with God. it was quite overwhelming! first of all, i need to think about him more, because if i really did love him then he'd be on my mind all the time. i need to spend more time with him, and really put a lot more effort into that time. i wanted to read through a few more books and just be consumed by the word of God. i need to be telling more people about Jesus, sometimes more directly. i need to be praying more for my school and for first priority and for my friends and for addie and for my church, etc. i need to pour into the lives of other people around me, helping them to know God better. ah, so OVERWHELMING! i can't possibly do all this stuff on my own. and, honestly, i don't know how i can do it all, period.
yet, there is hope, and oh, how much hope there is. haha, i'm smiling now. that means i'm happy when i write this. in contrast to the fact that this christian life ridiculously impossible, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME. really. that is the burden that Christ is talking about in matthew 11 when he says "come to me..." it is the burden of self. and, oh, how ironic in the world's eyes is it that in losing ourself to God and becoming a slave of righteousness, we are completely satisfied and sustained. we find true life, life as God inteneded, when we lose our life for God's sake. in my last blog, i talked about 2 peter 1:3, specifically about how God has given us everything we need for life. tonight, i'm talking about how God has provided everything we need for godliness in HIM.
its all about him. everything upon this earth points to him. nature does. our relationships do. the deepest parts of our hearts do. friends do. circumstances do. and, if we fix our eyes upon him, i strongly believe that everything will somehow fall into place. if he is the only thing that is in our vision, then good things are inevitably ahead. the problem is, it is with faith, which we lack so greatly, that we are able to "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen." so, we pray for more faith. and God ever-so faithfully grants this request to us. all we have to do is to continue to call to him as we go through life. there's ups and downs. we fall too often, but God's right there to lift us back up if we ask for him to.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jsus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
hebrews 12:2
it is him who we must fix our eyes upon, because he is the one who brings our faith to perfection. and, as we look at him, the things of this earth slowly grow "strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
06 April 2007
center
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knwoledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."
2 Peter 1:3
so i got back from this new job i started just a little bit ago. i feel so stupid, because i didn't do it right and i made this old guy i was working with stay late to help me. it hasn't been the greatest of nights.
i didn't know if i was going to have to work or not tonight so i called this afternoon, hoping that i wasn't. i wanted to go with all my friends to the oly pageant, but i found out that i worked. so, i showed up and things were going pretty well. i am a "range attendant" now, and i don't do much else but drive this little cart around picking golf balls up from the driving range. today, work started out well, and i was just driving around thinking, praying, and memorizing some verses. it was pretty sweet...i mean, i would have rather been with all my friends, but it was me and God driving around out there in the beautiful weather, and it was good.
i just met the guy i was working with today. he's probably in his sixties - kind of a grumpy old man. he's also got a broken foot so he just hobbles around. he needed me to do some stuff, which distracted me from the stuff i needed to be doing. as closing time was coming, i had a lot more to do than i had hoped, and i didn't want to make this old guy mad at me the day i met him. so, i was doing alright, and probably wouldn't have been too bad off, but the machine i was using stopped working. i had to tell the old man (his name is earl). he helped me out, but we ended up staying an hour after closing, and i felt really bad for making him stay because he was obviously unhappy about it...and, guess what? i get to work with him tomorrow!
i didn't want to work today, and i don't want to work tomorrow. i had other plans.
i don't really like my new job, and i didn't like the one i had before. why is this? this job sort of fell into my lap just like the last one did...like God wanted me to have this job. why would he do that? why would he seemingly give me a job that i do not like whatsoever? i know it might be a little early to say that, but i definitely don't enjoy working when i could be doing something that i feel is much more important than a little cash. and, i don't enjoy earl. so, why am i working here? do i quit this job just like i quit my last one? how long til i can quit? why does God have me working here?
i don't exactly know the answer to this. maybe i'm supposed to share Jesus with earl and the other people i'll get to work with. maybe its just an experience for the future. maybe its so that i can grow closer to God while driving around in my cart being pegged by golf balls.
the one thing i do know is that God is directing my life. he is in control. he gave me this job, for whatever purpose he might have for it. he has me here for a reason. i can trust him. and, plus...its not about me. its all about him. so i'll do whatever i do for his glory. my view has to be centered around God, not only in church or at home or at school, but in all aspects of my life. he is the center of everything, and should not be witheld from anything. look at that verse up there again - His divine power has given us everthing we need for life - pause. look at that! meditate on that! what a promise that is to us. God has given us everything we need for life through his power. alright, continue - and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. alright, so God's power has given us everything we need for godliness too. that's pretty sweet as well. it looks like that pretty much covers everything that i could ever be concerned about. how do we access this "divine power?" well, "through our knowledge of him." as we get to know him, which comes through spending time with him by talking to him and reading his word, his power directs our lives. and then...just look how everything comes back to him in this verse..."his divine power, through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness." he's it. the center...the only option for us.
he's the center. we look at him and things somehow seem to fall into place. that's how its been with my life. and that's why i can have confidence in this whole job thing. i hate it, but God's in control, and he'll do what he wants. i'm his and that's it.
sorry, long, stupid build up for a simple message. i mostly just needed to vent somewhere - and you, lucky reader, were the object of my venting. don't you feel privileged?
p.s. - lessons from arizona, soon to come. stay tuned, if there's anyone who actually reads this. i only know of one person (jesca). so, if you really wanted to make me feel super special, you could comment on this and tell me that you read this. that would make my day.
2 Peter 1:3
so i got back from this new job i started just a little bit ago. i feel so stupid, because i didn't do it right and i made this old guy i was working with stay late to help me. it hasn't been the greatest of nights.
i didn't know if i was going to have to work or not tonight so i called this afternoon, hoping that i wasn't. i wanted to go with all my friends to the oly pageant, but i found out that i worked. so, i showed up and things were going pretty well. i am a "range attendant" now, and i don't do much else but drive this little cart around picking golf balls up from the driving range. today, work started out well, and i was just driving around thinking, praying, and memorizing some verses. it was pretty sweet...i mean, i would have rather been with all my friends, but it was me and God driving around out there in the beautiful weather, and it was good.
i just met the guy i was working with today. he's probably in his sixties - kind of a grumpy old man. he's also got a broken foot so he just hobbles around. he needed me to do some stuff, which distracted me from the stuff i needed to be doing. as closing time was coming, i had a lot more to do than i had hoped, and i didn't want to make this old guy mad at me the day i met him. so, i was doing alright, and probably wouldn't have been too bad off, but the machine i was using stopped working. i had to tell the old man (his name is earl). he helped me out, but we ended up staying an hour after closing, and i felt really bad for making him stay because he was obviously unhappy about it...and, guess what? i get to work with him tomorrow!
i didn't want to work today, and i don't want to work tomorrow. i had other plans.
i don't really like my new job, and i didn't like the one i had before. why is this? this job sort of fell into my lap just like the last one did...like God wanted me to have this job. why would he do that? why would he seemingly give me a job that i do not like whatsoever? i know it might be a little early to say that, but i definitely don't enjoy working when i could be doing something that i feel is much more important than a little cash. and, i don't enjoy earl. so, why am i working here? do i quit this job just like i quit my last one? how long til i can quit? why does God have me working here?
i don't exactly know the answer to this. maybe i'm supposed to share Jesus with earl and the other people i'll get to work with. maybe its just an experience for the future. maybe its so that i can grow closer to God while driving around in my cart being pegged by golf balls.
the one thing i do know is that God is directing my life. he is in control. he gave me this job, for whatever purpose he might have for it. he has me here for a reason. i can trust him. and, plus...its not about me. its all about him. so i'll do whatever i do for his glory. my view has to be centered around God, not only in church or at home or at school, but in all aspects of my life. he is the center of everything, and should not be witheld from anything. look at that verse up there again - His divine power has given us everthing we need for life - pause. look at that! meditate on that! what a promise that is to us. God has given us everything we need for life through his power. alright, continue - and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. alright, so God's power has given us everything we need for godliness too. that's pretty sweet as well. it looks like that pretty much covers everything that i could ever be concerned about. how do we access this "divine power?" well, "through our knowledge of him." as we get to know him, which comes through spending time with him by talking to him and reading his word, his power directs our lives. and then...just look how everything comes back to him in this verse..."his divine power, through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness." he's it. the center...the only option for us.
he's the center. we look at him and things somehow seem to fall into place. that's how its been with my life. and that's why i can have confidence in this whole job thing. i hate it, but God's in control, and he'll do what he wants. i'm his and that's it.
sorry, long, stupid build up for a simple message. i mostly just needed to vent somewhere - and you, lucky reader, were the object of my venting. don't you feel privileged?
p.s. - lessons from arizona, soon to come. stay tuned, if there's anyone who actually reads this. i only know of one person (jesca). so, if you really wanted to make me feel super special, you could comment on this and tell me that you read this. that would make my day.
03 April 2007
navajo nation pics
this is the church we stayed at...the "blue church"
the first night we went over and climbed and hiked through this "mesa." when we were leaving, the sun was setting on this and it was absolutely breathtaking. what a beautiful God
yes...snow in arizona. crazy huh? notice how in both photos of me i'm wearing the exact same thing. yeah, i only brought 2 sweatshirts and a couple pair of pants. didn't you think arizona was hot?
these girls at vbs were crazy...this is how it was every night
she's my girlfriend?! ah...me and addie at the grand canyon.
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